Christopher Webster [Celluloid 02.01.11] post apocalyptic movie news book scifi



It's the one you've been waiting for.. or at least I have. Warner Bros. and CBS Films are officially teaming up to adapt Stephen King's epic tale of good verses evil in the apocalypse. The Hollywood Reporter broke the new earlier tonight:

"The studios and producers will sit down with writers and directors in the coming weeks in an attempt to find the right take on the material. One thing to be determined is whether to attempt the adaptation in one or multiple movies. King will be involved in some capacity.

CBS has held the rights for many years but recently realized the best way to undertake the project was with a partner. Warners beat out Fox and Sony in a tight bidding war for the gig, getting its hands on one of the biggest-selling books of all time."

Weighing in at over 1000 pages, The Stand was for a long time considered unfilmable. But with successful adaptations of other epic books like Lord of the Rings proving not only possible but doable, I guess the time has finally come for King's novel to get its due.

All I can say is they better not mess this one up. This is the big one. Haven't read it yet? ">you can order here.

So? Who should direct? Who should write? Can you imagine getting this gig? Talk about pressure.


Just for fun, here's the trailer for the not so good 1994 Miniseries

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ethanol (11 years ago) Reply

there was a miniseries in 1994 with Gary Sinise, but I did not see

wtf (11 years ago) Reply

there's already a (in my opinion) very bad movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108941/fullcredits

iamdavidbyrne (11 years ago) Reply

I probably will get yelled at for saying this, but could this be the right project to redeem M. Night Shyamalan. If he was just allowed to direct and not try and twist the rewrite, I believe the end product could be one of his best.

I am not sure if the Coen Brothers would ever touch the project, but I would love to see them try something really epic. They have also already proven successful at adapting novels with No Country for Old Men and True Grit.

Christopher Nolan would be another excellent candidate, but once again I am not sure if he would be attracted to this project. I would love to see his ability to create his amazingly deep psychological characters and thrust them into the mind of Stephen King.

I pity the screenwriters for this project because I cannot imagine a more daunting task except maybe the writers of Stephen King's other insanely epic novel The Dark Tower series. Its almost like saying, "Hey, let's adapt the Bible." Where do you even begin?

agentorange (11 years ago) Reply

@iamdavidbyrne

Nah man, no yelling. I think Shyamalan got his best film in his yet and I can see how this would actually be the perfect fit...

Now if only we could be get adapations of The Long Walk and Under the Dome on the way, we'd have all of King's best happening at once!

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

Just don’t think it can be done. The novel is a hefty read and any screenplay (that would even remotely do it justice) would have to be equally massive. Three plus hours minimum. A horror movie that long, with large sections just dealing with character development. Don’t see it happening myself.

islipaway (11 years ago) Reply

M-O-O-N, that spells hell yeah!

Sunolet (11 years ago) Reply

I agree with Anon, it will be very hard to transcribe, it most likely won't make most of its budget if it does the book justice, but if they want money, they'll cut out a shitload, annoy a lot of fans and possibly king himself, this is kind of a corner, if they somehow pull it off, i'll be the first to send my congratulations, but i doubt it can be done successfully

rek (11 years ago) Reply

You say "finally" like this is necessary or good. The 6 (or was it 8?) hour miniseries had to leave out stuff, what makes you think a 90 minute treatment will capture the story better?

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

TV series was 6 hours. Film could be freakin awesome if they go all out und give it the Lord o Rings style trilogy epic it deserves. 3 films at near enough 3 hours each plus a bunch of extra footage for DVD. Anything less is a waste of time. Also (and possibly one of the most vital points to consider) it'simperative that they use the orignal Don't Fear The Reaper on the soundtrack and not some bullschiesse cover. That song is that book to me very time I hear it . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUAvTn3uz5w

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

OMG! I never thought this would happen! The miniseries stank beyond reason. If an adaptation of The Stand was done right, I think I could die happy!!!!!!

agentorange (11 years ago) Reply

@rek

They're discussing multiple films. Let's hope they go that route. At least two.

rek (11 years ago) Reply

Anonymous: "The miniseries stank"

THOSE ARE FIGHTING WORDS, friend.

Agentorange - 2 movies is the bare minimum; anything less and we're still looking at skipping entire characters and plot points entirely.

agentorange (11 years ago) Reply

@rek

I know. Really it should be a 10 part HBO mini-series like Band of Brothers.

agentorange (11 years ago) Reply

Check out this copy of THE STAND going for $3,300 on ebay:

http://bit.ly/dZQ6IA

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

I don't really know about who to direct? Though it really needs to be a 3 part series, along the lines of "Lord of the Rings". Just not 12 months apart, as that would be quite unbearable.

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

An episodic horror movie, as a theatrical release?! Cummon guys smell the coffee. You could see that Crash from space. King has a large following but they alone would guarantee that it would even break even. A decent, well cast, well scripted (and most important well financed) TV movie series would be the best way to go here.

Diggler (11 years ago) Reply

I have to disagree. Stephen King has had over 350 million copies of his novels sold. Just putting his name on the title instantly adds credibility.

We live in an age where movies like Resident Evil and SAW can morph into 5-6 films that degenerate further, and further into stupidity. Though people still flock to see them?

So why can't one of Stephen King's greatest novels (and one of the best Post Apocalyptic novels) be adapted succesfully into a duo or trilogy?

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

I agree with anon. Credibility yes sure, but are you honestly saying that enough of the movie going public (who by your own admission, would on the whole rather pay one admission to watch sh*t like ‘Saw 7’) would pay twice or more times to see one whole film?

How will part one end? “To be continued. Come back in a few months with another 12 bucks to see part 2”?

Two films (and id say it would need three) means two or more distribution deals. Two or more marketing campaigns. The costs for those are huge, and only the like of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter has enough popular appeal these days, to pull it off.

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

I'd rather see The Gunslinger made into a movie.

Aladdin Sarsippius (11 years ago) Reply

Death to anyone who thinks of putting
Akiva Goldsman anywhere near this.

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